Why should North Carolinians be concerned about immigration?

We should be concerned because we are Americans. We need to know the truth. Illegal immigration and mass legal immigration have a major impact on most aspects of our life. Today’s out-of-control immigration affects homeland security, the unemployment rate, our education system, health care, government budgets, congestion, the environment, crime and countless other areas of American life. It is evident to most Americans that the immigration policies of our government are not serving the needs and interests of our country.

Homeland security is a large concern. Is it fair to ask if procedures are in place to screen immigrants who wish to move to America? Our government admits it cannot adequately check the true identity and do background checks on the one million people per year who are now legally immigrating to America. Of course no background or identity checks are being performed on the 500,000 illegal immigrants moving to America each year. The 9-11 attack well documents how lax immigration checks and enforcement left Americans vulnerable. One of the best ways for a terrorist to hide and remain in America is to acquire a driver’s license and get a job. Those who overstay their visas and illegal immigrants can be controlled and reduced in number over time if we begin any serious interior enforcement. Sadly some large corporations, cheap labor advocacy organizations, unscrupulous businesses, and illegal immigrant advocacy groups lobby Congress continually for no immigration enforcement in the workplace and fight most efforts to improve verifiable ID documents.

Mass legal immigration and illegal immigration are especially hurting American workers. With high (real) unemployment and outsourcing and off-shoring of American workers, does it make any sense to allow 1.5 million people to immigrate to America each year when we cannot find jobs for American citizens? Large scale immigration today is distorting worker supply and demand and affecting wages. American workers in the bottom 20% bracket have not seen their wages (adjusted for inflation) increased in the last 12 years. And it’s not only low-skilled workers who are being affected.

Immigration is having a major effect on public education in North Carolina. There are nearly 112,000 LEP [limited English proficient] students in North Carolina schools for the last reported year. The John Locke Foundation says the average cost of educating a student in K-12 in North Carolina is over $8300 per year. So we are spending $929 million on students in the LEP program per year in our state. The costs are actually much higher because many former students of the LEP program are still in our public schools. The cost for educating LEP students who are dependents of illegal alien immigrants, who are either in LEP or out of the LEP program but still enrolled in the public school system, is estimated to be over $900 million per year.

The truth is that immigration is the main factor which will cause our nation’s population to grow to 460 million by the year 2060. This is equivalent to a near 50% increase in our population in just the next 50 years, according to the Census Bureau. California has a higher growth rate than India. A significant part of North Carolina’s growth rate is illegal immigration. Most people need to realize that they are not being properly informed by the media and Congress regarding our immigration statistics and policies. Immigration is NOT at low levels, NOR is it stable. It’s presently pushing a huge population increase in the United States. It will redefine America as we know it, if we do nothing.

In short, we need immigration policies that are in America’s best interest, not special interests. We need to replace mass immigration (legal and illegal) with sensible legal immigration. Stop coddling illegal immigrants who have broken our immigration laws. Then welcome legal immigrants who have had a background check, waited their turn, and desire to share in the American dream.